False reporting of rape holds no benefits

July 08, 2007

More than two weeks after Anne K. Ream's piece about the Duke lacrosse case ran, letters continued trickling in taking sides on the controversy (chicagotribune.com/duke). None was more heartfelt than the letter from Lesley Barton, printed below. Perspective readers weighed in on other stories featured last week as well.

My father once said to me "You should never take advantage of someone that is weak or vulnerable just because you can." I thought of his words as I read Anne Ream's opinion piece and the letters in response to it. ...

I am a rape survivor and I fought long and hard to forgive the man who assaulted me. When I was sexually assaulted, I waited a full week before reporting it; there were no positives or benefits for reporting the rape; only to not report it. I knew that due to the sensationalizing of the false reporting of rape, I might not be believed, might be put on trial myself and quite possibly would never be hired or respected in my chosen profession again. The only reason I finally reported it was because I had to do whatever was within my power to stop my perpetrator from raping someone else. ...

I wish I could tell you that my fears of being blamed, shamed and disbelieved did not occur, but they all came true. The attitudes I encountered reminded me of reader Lindsay Jackel's response to Ms. Ream's piece: "The truth is that women lie" and "It is wrong to believe that any time a woman makes an accusation it is automatically true." Ms. Jackel should know that 94 to 96 percent of the time, when rape survivors come forward to authorities, they are telling the truth. False reporting of rape does not occur any more frequently than the false reporting of other crimes. But each time a woman comes forward we seem not to believe her. What is wrong with this picture?

Lesley Barton, Glenview

The description by Dr. Arnold Relman that we are in the grips of a giant medical industrial complex is just what I feared in the early 1970s when, in a rare moment of epiphany, I blurted out at a social gathering that included doctor friends that "the American Medical Association is the most powerful labor union in the country." Now Dr. Relman's description confirms that the system "of doctors, by doctors, for doctors" with the generous collusion of insurance providers, drug companies and yes, we the gullible public (Medicare, Medicaid, veterans' benefits) has morphed into this giant complex. In spite of the enormous resources in money, manpower and technology at its disposal, it can't provide ... timely and affordable care.

Raja Iyer, Lisle

I write regarding the statement . . . by Bonnie Miller Rubin that Franklin D. Roosevelt's polio was kept out of view. This is a frequently repeated statement. I am old enough to remember FDR. . . . It was common knowledge that he had polio and the subsequent lower limb paralysis.

Harold Goodman, Evanston

Thank you for finally printing a Sunday Perspective column on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that does not blame Israel for the area's problems ("Amid chaos, looking at Plan C" by Frida Ghitis).

. . . In her next to last paragraph, she points out the double standard applied to Israel when she states that if Egypt took back control of Gaza, they would be allowed to forcefully crack down on Hamas in a way that the world would never allow if done by Israel.

If the jury in Genarlow Wilson's case ("Blinded by the law" by Radley Balko) had known about jury nullification, Mr. Wilson would be a free man today instead of at the mercy of Thurbert Baker, the Georgia attorney general.

Jury nullification occurs when a jury finds a defendant not guilty even though the jury believes the defendant broke the law. This can happen if the jury believes the law is unjust or that the law does not apply, given the circumstances of the case.

All juries have the power to nullify a law but judges go to great lengths to keep juries from knowing that. Judges typically instruct juries to find that the defendant either broke the law or did not break the law. Judges do not tell juries that they can find otherwise.